ARTIST PROFILES

AMANDA POWELL

AMANDA POWELL, soprano, has been praised as “the star of the evening” (SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL, UK) and “charismatic and theatrically arresting” (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE). A highly versatile musician, she is at home in repertoire from Monteverdi to Mozart to Ravel, and has toured internationally as soloist in baroque opera, oratorio, and crossover folk programs. Her tour performances with GRAMMY®-winning baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire (Jeannette Sorrell) include such venues as the National Concert Hall of Ireland in Dublin, the Irish National Opera House, the Aldeburgh Festival (UK), the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the National Gallery in Washington, and Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, among others. Her 2019 debut as Messiah soloist with the Calgary Symphony won kudos as “the soloist of the night... singing to perfection”. As a recording artist, Ms. Powell has been featured on several Apollo’s Fire albums including Sugarloaf Mountain, Sephardic Journey, and Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain, all of which received rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic and debuted in the top ten on the BILLBOARD Classical Chart. Her 2015 solo debut album, Beyond Boundaries, is an intimate program of folk, jazz, and global music. She is a fluent improvisor and has collaborated with such artists as Bobby McFerrin and Sheila Jordan.

ASHLEE FOREMAN

ASHLEE FOREMAN, soprano & Diversity Fellow, is currently a Master’s candidate at the University of Akron. She holds a degree in vocal performance from Cleveland State University, where she studied voice with Amanda Powell. She has also studied with Ms. Noriko Paukert, Dr. Laurie Lashbrook, and Dr. Frank Ward. Ms. Foreman has received African American Spiritual performance scholarships named for the late A. Grace Lee Mims, with whom she studied voice. While an undergraduate student, she served as AF’s first Artistic Outreach Intern, singing the role of Princess Pamina in AF’s in-school workshops and performances. She has performed with the Akron Symphony Orchestra and Cleveland Opera. In 2020 she joined AF’s professional chorus, Apollo’s Singers, with whom she has performed in Cleveland and New York City.

OLIVIER BRAULT

OLIVIER BRAULT, violin, hails from Terrebonne in Québec and has brought communicative enthusiasm and scholarship to concerts throughout North America and Europe for thirty years. Baroque violin teacher at McGill University, he is the director of Sonate 1704 (Québec) and of the ensemble Les Goûts Réunis (Luxembourg), principal violin with the Four Nations Ensemble (New York), and Les Boréades de Montréal. In 2007, he completed a doctorate at the Université de Montréal on 18th-century French music for violin and figured bass, an expertise that leads him to give lectures and masterclasses in prestigious institutions such as the Conservatoire royal de musique de Bruxelles and the Conservatoire de musique et de danse de Paris. He has participated in over 65 recordings, many award-winning. In 2011, he was awarded the medal of the Assemblée Nationale du Québec. In 2016, an article from the CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION placed him among the ten Canadian violinists that “must be known”.

Susanna Perry Gilmore

SUSANNA PERRY GILMORE, violin, enjoys a multifaceted career as solo artist, chamber musician, and orchestral concertmaster. Performing on both modern and period instruments and versatile in diverse styles from classical to fiddling, she is hailed as a player who is both “thrilling and sensitive” by the MEMPHIS COMMERCIAL APPEAL, “luminous and hypnotic” by the OMAHA WORLD-HERALD, and “authentic with exquisite good taste” and “rich in tone, bringing musical depth and a human touch” by THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER. As concertmaster of the Omaha Symphony she frequently appears as a soloist including recent performances of the Scottish Fantasy by Max Bruch, Tzigane by Ravel, Berg Violin Concerto, Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Mozart Concerto No. 5 and the Korngold Violin Concerto as well as major concertmaster solos such as Rimsky Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben. She holds degrees from Oxford University and the New England Conservatory and is the violinist on Apollo’s Fire’s best-selling CD recordings Sugarloaf Mountain and Sephardic Journey.

ANDREW FOUTS

ANDREW FOUTS, violin & viola, has been noted for his “mellifluous sound and sensitive style” (WASHINGTON POST). In 2008, he won first prize at the American Bach Soloists’ International Baroque Violin Competition. He is co-artistic director of Pittsburgh’s Chatham Baroque, a frequent concertmaster of the Washington Bach Consort, and performs regularly with Apollo’s Fire, Opera Lafayette, the Four Nations Ensemble, and Ars Lyrica.

EMI TANABE

EMI TANABE, violin, holds a Professional Diploma from Roosevelt University and a Master’s degree in music from the University of North Texas. She is an adjunct faculty member at Benedictine University in Chicago. She enjoys a multifaceted career as a violinist - performing not only with baroque ensembles but also with modern groups including jazz, Latin, world music, and theatrical Cirque-style dinner theater shows, among others.

REBECCA LANDELL REED

REBECCA LANDELL REED, cello & viola da gamba, is praised for her “classically evocative” sound (THE WASHINGTONIAN). Her solo appearances include performances with Apollo’s Fire, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Three Notch’d Road, and Batzdorfer Hofkapelle. She enjoys a diverse professional career, which includes performing and acting in Studio Theatre’s An Iliad, studying Haydn quartets at the Smithsonian Haydn Academy, and recording innovative programs with Les Délices’ new series SalonEra. She teaches baroque cello and viola da gamba at Oberlin Conservatory and performs regularly with Les Délices and Apollo’s Fire in Cleveland.

Kathie Stewart

KATHIE STEWART, wooden flutes, is a founding member and principal flutist of Apollo’s Fire. A faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Music, she is also a Kulas Visiting Artist at CWRU, and former Curator of Harpsichords at the Oberlin Conservatory where she taught baroque flute for nearly twenty years. She is an avid proponent of Celtic music, playing Irish flute on several Apollo’s Fire recordings. She has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Tafelmusik, The Four Nations Ensemble, Oberlin Baroque Ensemble, ARTEK, and the Bach Sinfonia in Washington, D.C. and is the Assistant Director of the Seattle Baroque Flute Workshop.

Tina Bergmann

TINA BERGMANN, hammered dulcimer, was hailed by Pete Seeger as “the best hammered dulcimer player I’ve heard in my life.” A fourth-generation musician, Bergmann began playing music at age eight, learning the mountain dulcimer from her mother in the aural tradition and learning the hammered dulcimer at the knee of West Virginianative builder and performer Loy Swiger. Demonstrating gifts for both performance and teaching, she has been a featured performer across the United States, performing solo; as a duo with her husband, bassist Bryan Thomas; with her stringband Hu$hmoney; and as a featured soloist with Apollo’s Fire and Canadian early music group, La Nef.

Brian Kay

BRIAN KAY, lute, guitar, banjo, vocals, is a modern-day troubadour. He is the first Artistic Leadership Fellow of Apollo’s Fire and in 2019 won a GRAMMY® Award for his work on the CD Songs of Orpheus. He has performed throughout the world at venues such as the National Concert Hall of Dublin, Belfast Castle (Ireland), Carnegie Hall, and the Kennedy Center. His live radio appearances include NPR, WYPR and 98ROCK (Baltimore), WGBH (Boston), and WCLV (Cleveland). He has recorded for AVIE and Sono Luminus labels, and has been heard on more than ten album releases. He is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, arranger, traditional and historical music specialist, poet, and painter.

Thank you to DR. DANIEL SHOSKES, physician, lutenist, and Apollo’s Fire Board member, for joining us as a special guest to highlight the medical subject matter of this concert. Please see the profile of Dr. Shoskes on p. 9.